New deals for download listeners

Consumers are going to get a better deal when they download music.

Napster downloads will be more flexible and Apple is to lower prices on iTunes downloads.

To top it off, the British Government is considering ammending UK copyright laws to make it legal to copy music and movies for private use.

Napster's announcement that it will shift its entire music catalogue to the MP3 format by the second quarter of this year means tracks will be free of digital rights management (DRM) software. This means the music can be played on virtually all music playing devices.

Although Apple iTunes Plus service offers some DRM-free content the services is more restrictive and has been more expensive than its copyright-protected content. Also unlike MP3, iTunes content which uses Apple's [Jb] AAC format can only be played on iPods and iPhones unless converted.

Although another music download service, 7 Digital, has also started to offer MP3 tracks, Napster will be the first in the UK with major label content to announce a 100 per cent adoption of the format.

Napster chairman Chris Gorog told us: "It is the way the industry is going to have to move. It gives flexibility to consumers."

Other good news is that Apple has been forced to lower the price of downloads at its UK iTunes service within the next six months. The company currently charges its UK customers more than their European counterparts; tracks cost 79p to download in the UK compared to 64p per track in Germany and France.

The Office of Fair Trading complained to the European Commission (EC) in 2005. The EC found the price differential anti-competitive and a breach of EU law and now prices will now be brought in line with continental Europe.

Meanwhile the Government has opened a consultation about updating the UK Copyright Act to allow consumers to make private copies of music they have bought. If this goes ahead it will bring the UK in line with the majority of European countries which have exceptions for personal copying.